Meet the French Chinese star of hit comedy about weddings, Frédéric Chau

"In France, there are only three Asian actors," says Frédéric Chau of his rising stature as he greeted the audience at the Hong Kong French Film Festival screening of last month. "And two of them don't speak French."

The 37-year-old is just kidding, although there's no denying that Chau has become one of the most recognisable Asian faces in France since the family comedy became 2014's biggest domestic hit in the country. "One out of six people in France has watched this movie," the actor says.

Directed by Philippe de Chauveron, who co-wrote the script with Guy Laurent, revolves around a French Catholic family whose white parents are still grappling with the fact that three of their four daughters have married men outside their ethnic group, including the Chinese son-in-law played by Chau. When their youngest daughter brings home a black fiancé, all hell breaks loose.

"When Philippe finished the script, he decided to meet all the actors of different origins," Chau says of the director's preparations. "He wanted to listen to people's opinions about their own [ethnic] communities - Arabic, African, Jewish and Chinese - because he didn't want to write something wrong about another community. He didn't want to hurt them."

While the film has attracted more than 12 million admissions at home, its attempt to elicit laughter from racial stereotypes hasn't been met with the same enthusiasm abroad. Surprisingly for a box office hit, has failed to secure a commercial release in the US and Britain. Foreign distributors have been deterred by the political incorrectness in the multicultural movie, which Chau attributes to the difference in social environments in France and elsewhere. "France is the champion of the world in mixed weddings," he says.

"This movie touches on five communities and three generations. It's happened to [many] families that their children bring a boyfriend or girlfriend from another origin [home] for dinner. French people recognise themselves in this kind of situation. I think this is why the movie works [so well]," says Chau, adding that his family is happy with his French girlfriend.